Allotments 4 All

Just planted a load of onions and garlic yesterday, about a centimetre under the soil, which i had put chicken manure on a week previously.
What do i need to do now? Do they need watering at all, or re-fertilising?

Ah good point got mine to go in as well hope others will give up some tips
Teresa

Hiya  :)

Fret not..all seems ok to me.  Hope for a cold thnap and they should romp away.

Mine are in, I gave them a good water when I first planted them as the ground was like dust, but we have since had lashings of rain so touch wood...they should be doing the business.  :P
 I was watching old Monty on Friday last and he was out planting his garlic and he said that they need a good cold spell to make them split into cloves.  I didn't know that!  :o  What would you do with a clove of garlic the size of a regular bulb for goodness sakes!  ;D  

Umm,  :)

When planting out you divide the bulb into cloves and the cloves are planted...right?  What I think you saw was if you were to plant them in your greenhouse, they would need to be in the fridge for a while and then the whole bulb was planted.( not split into cloves)

Hiya Merv, nope, I saw that with Chris Bearshaw (good looking boy he is!), but Monty said that if the garlic cloves don't get at least....I think he said 10 days of very cold temperatures, it will only form one big clove.  Or did I hear that wrong.....the joys of watching gardeners world with a husband who is not the least bit interested in gardening and chooses to tell you about his day just as Monty starts yacking!

Yes I watched it minus yakking hubbies, he did say it would become monster-clove if there was no cold spell!

I quite fancy trying it, you could have whole roasted monster-clove squished on toast MMMMMMMMM!!!

Ten x

i actually had one that did not split this year, itis about the size of a daffodil bulb! (my family are always telling me I grow weird shaped veg!) I still have it and keep looking at it, wondering what to do with it!! ??? I am sure it will be delicious!  :) Dotty P.

Last year about a third of my garlics turned out to be just perfect little balls, no cloves. Actually easier to use than the ones that did consist of cloves since they were quite small.

As for onions, I'm giving up on them sadly, the white rot seems to be getting worse each year. I tried different areas in my lottie but I keep losing more than half my harvest. If anybody knows how to combat white rot, please let me know. -Ina

Oh Ina-I know the feeling, bought this place with it`s lovely big garden 10 years ago and guess what?-the soil has white rot.

garlic is a waste of time,and onions suffer terribly-except the Japanese ones I plant out in the Autumn-can`t figure that out.

Stephan

- ours has been getting to the stage where I was giving up alliums. But although I know that Stephan doesn't agree, I've religiously sprayed twice with Armillatox -@1/100 - cultivating in between, and onions and garlic and shallots ARE GOING IN !!

Tell you next year if it worked. Can't go on buying these things.

Must comment on a note t'other day which said that if one is sold sets now, they must go in now. We, for instance have our garlic seed now, but it does not go in till February. So think twice! - Tim

Ina, reading your first paragraph, I was quite surprised to find these smallish balls among my garlics when I harvested them earlier, and wasn't sure what to do with them.   I finished up planting them in a trough, and now we've got a green shoot about 8 cm long from each of the three, so I'm hoping I'm growing more garlic.

So....white rot....can any of you tell me how it spreads  ???  I ask as whilst nattering to 'Old Jack' today, he informed me that he has given up growing onions (other than spring onions) due to the white rot he has on both his plots.  He is a fair way away from me.....but I was wondering....is it the sort of thing that would travel on his wellie when he comes over to 'borrow' a cup of coffee? :-/

For DottieP - plant your 'daffodil' bulb now and it'll produce a bulb with cloves next year..

Another thing that benefits from a cold snap is rhubarb - expose the crown during the winter then cover it with muck early spring & start forcing some of it with a bucket over, if you wish; a friend digs up her rhubarb every winter & lays it on the ground for the frost to get to - seems a bit excessive to this lazy gardener..

:o ;DLishka

Fortunately - touching wood, raising my eyes to the heavens, murmuring incantations & promising all the Gods that I'll never, ever do anything wrong ever again ...I've not experienced white rot, so can't contribute there...

Emma - sadly it could - but don't give up friendships for that.

Lishka - you're obviously fasting as well as praying? We're well through lunch!! - Tim

Yes Lish, rhubarb seems to survive anything. When we first got the lotiie, there was a big rhubarb bush. Since Clint doesn't like it at all and I only every now and then, we found it a waste of good space. So I dug it up and left it all winter exposed on top of the soil to die and hopefully go soft so I could chop the roots small for the compost. The next summer someone wanted a piece of it but even tho' it was sprouting I didn't think it would grow having been out of the ground for more than half a year! It lived and produced. -Ina

Ien, do you remember when I confessed that, new to veg. gardening, I planted my rhubarb crown upside down?  Couldn't understand why I'd got these big big leaves and stalks about 5cm long...poor thing had really gone into Survival Mode. When the friend who gave it me had stopped laughing and picked herself up and we planted it the right way up, it took off like a train.. ;D

Back to garlic and onions (shallots). If anyone's yet to buy them, please give The Garlic Farm a look (Tim's recommendation). You can order on-line, the stuff arrives 2-3 days after, and comes with full planting/cultivating/plaiting instructions.

THANK YOU, TIM[/color]

Lish, Tim et al - I have just been on the website of the Garlic Farm and I am slavering at the thought of the White Solent variety - good cropper and long keeping it says. Have any of you tried it and can you recommend or refuse it? £9 is a lot for me personally to spend on garlic sets, as I don't use an awful lot, but I will give some to my mum to grow as well.

Anyone want to give their opinion on the variety?

Love, Palefire
xxx

Sue, I ordered the mixed pack - garlic & shallots & I've 4 large (but large! bulbs of the Solent Wight....I, too, was attracted by their keeping properties. I've not tried them before, but I'm sure they're going to be good...what say I send you a bulb of mine? I've more than enough...mail me if you'd like - cheers, Lishka

Why, thank you very much! I shall get in touch - when I saw Monty putting in his garlic, all those mentions of pickled garlic and roasted garlic I've heard from lottie members in the past sprang to mind. I went immediately to the nearest garden centre, who are usually good for that kind of thing, only to be told that S***ons had cancelled the delivery!! Not good, I told myself, I wonder how many other independents have been let down and why?

Love, Palefire

xxx